ABC Managers have reneged on a 4% wage offer agreed to by staff last year. The ABC says they can’t afford the increase which was due in April this year. New offer is 1% in April and 3% in July. It also involves extending the EBA for an extra 15 months. Staff are mighty p-ssed off.
The Australian reported yesterday that Myer is to increase its ad spend for the coming months, funded through a deal with suppliers that will result in Myer buying more stock. In reality, battle-weary Myer suppliers were given two options: buy in or get out. Myer has been driving suppliers hard in recent months, demanding higher margins, increased rebates and so on (ie, more money) to prop up its profit. Suppliers on the other hand are paying more, but seeing their sales drop at Myer (sales have been going backwards for more than two years when CPI is factored in). Well, two major suppliers have had enough. One large youth apparel brand told Myer in December is was exiting and a second major brand is set to follow. Both are in the final stages of closing exclusivity deals with David Jones.
Alex Mitchell writes of the demise of the Obeid/Tripodi influence due to, among other things, former union boss John Robertson’s dislike of the two. This is incorrect. Mr Obeid has been extremely active in the promotion of Robertson and counts him as an ally. Or at least this is what Mr O is saying. The dynamics are clearly murkier than first appears. But then again, this is the NSW ALP Right Wing.
I wonder if there’s any truth to the rumour that BHP had reassessed the Ravensthorpe mine life down from 30 years to 10 years and then subsequently down to three years prior to the rather timely fall in nickel prices?
Stilgherrian’s story in Crikey is a little incorrect in parts — the error didn’t come from StopBadware — Google confirmed that error from their first announcement many hours ago — so should Crikey 🙂
Did Louise Hall from the SMH actually read the paper (published in the Medical Journal of Australia) about childhood obesity — or did she simply forget to mention in her article that the child “Jade” mentioned in the paper was not a real child, but an amalgamation of several different papers? Sloppy journalism either way!
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I see there’s a criticism of my story on severely obese children being notified to child protection authorities in Tips and Rumours today.
Of course I read the journal article, and I also interviewed the lead author, Dr Shirley Alexander from the Children’s hospital at Westmead.
The first question I asked Dr Alexander when I interviewed her on Friday January 30 was to check if the case study of Jade was based on an actual patient. She explained it was an amalgamation of several cases because no real patients had given consent to have their details printed in a medical journal despite being asked.
However we discussed it was appropriate to use the case of “Jade” as an illustration of the type of extreme cases that may warrant the notification of child protection services, just as she and her colleagues did in their journal article.
You may note other media outlets did not interview any of the authors, and in today’s Daily Telegraph, the case study of “Jade” is actually re-printed in full, without any further comment, or note that she was not a real child.
I enjoy reading Crikey and have sent tips and rumours in myself but I hardly think this nasty comment is a tip or a rumour. Anyone can access the journal article through http://www.mja.com.au and see there is a note explaining that Jade is an amalgamation of several cases.
Your tipster is hardly breaking news!
And does Crikey not give people the chance to refute before publishing, when it is such as personal attack?
Disappointed subscriber
Louise Hall.
re ABC Managers have reneged on a 4% wage offer
It’s not ABC management which should be ashamed of this appalling wage outcome but the CPSU itself.
The latest rumour swirling around Ultimo is that the union thinks it could win a legal fight against the ABC but has calculated that this would be too expensive. Woops, can’t be bothered! Tax cuts, interest rates and free pink batts will soften that blow after all.
Likely outcome is members will accept they have a union which is clueless and they’ll keep paying their dues. God knows why. the CPSU’s been on life support for some years now, and the only people who seem to notice are ABC management